Lightning surges on an overhead wire in the presence of corona: FDTD simulation of Wagner et al.'s experiment

Abstract

In this paper, a simplified model of corona discharge for finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) computations has been applied to analyzing lightning surges propagating along a 25 or 21 mm radius, 2.2 km long single overhead horizontal wire, which simulates the experiment of Wagner et al. [1954]. The critical electric field on the surface of the 25 mm radius wire for corona initiation is set to E 0 =1.3, 2.1 or 2.5 MV/m, and E 0 =2.2 MV/m for 21 mm radius wire. The critical background electric field for streamer propagation is set to E cp =0.5 MV/m for positive voltage application and E cn =1.5 MV/m for negative voltage application. The FDTD-computed waveforms of surge voltage at three different distances from the energized end of the wire agree reasonably well with the corresponding measured waveforms.